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BY 



REV. HEMAN III JMPIIBEY, D. D. 



IN THE BAPTIST CHURCH, 



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The Missouri Compromise: 



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UEV. HEMAN HUMPHREY, D. D. 



IN THE BAPTIST CHURCH, 



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Rbv. H. Humphrey, D. D., 

Dear Sir : 

The undersigned, in behalf 
of a large number of the citizens of this County, respectfully 
request a copy of your Address on the "Nebraska .Bill," for 
publication. SAMUEL HARRIS,) 

CYRUS PRINDLE, V- Committee. 
ASA BARR, ) 

Pittsfield, March 1, 1854. 



Gentlemen, 

I have received yonr request in behalf of citizens 
of this County for a copy of my Address on the Nebraska Bill, 
now before Congress, and if you think the publication of it>will 
do good it is at your service. 



H. HUMPHREY. 



Pittsfield, March 1, 1854. 



Bos.t>uLL»b. 

t4Je'W 



ADDRESS. 



Friends of Public Faith and National Honor : 

There are times of peril, in tli£ history of every 
nation, which demand the united counsels and efforts 
of all the people, to ward off the danger. Some- 
times, it is to resist, at every hazard, the invasion of 
a foreign power ; sometimes to quell a formidable 
insurrection at home ; and sometimes, to thwart the 
stealthy encroachments of wily and aspiring mem 
who to gain their own selfish purposes, would not, 
hesitate to sacrifice the best interests of the present, 
and of all future generations. Such times of public 
danger there have been, in the history of this 
country. 

The first, was, in what has since been called the 
old French war, in 1745, and which was brought to 
a successful close, by the capture of Quebec, on the 
heights of Abraham. 

The next, and a far more perilous struggle, was in 
the war of the Revolution, between these then colo- 
nies, and the mother country, in which England put, 
forth all her naval and military strength, to coerce 
submission to her arbitrary laws, and to resist which, 
required the united efforts and sacrifices of the whole 
people, during seven long and bloody years. By the 
blessing of God, on their counsels and their arms, 
they triumphed, and established their Independence. 



Ko attempt has since been made' Co eonquor us ; and 
if we remain a united people, and keep alive the fire 
of liberty which glowed in the bosoms of our revo- 
lutionary fathers, no power on earth can do it. 

Since we became a nation, there have been two 
cases of open insurrection. I refer to the Shays and 
Whiskey rebellions, both of which were crushed in 
the bud, by the energy of the government, Besides 
these, as you remember, there was danger at one 
time, that a more formidable insurrection would 
break out, in one of the oldest states of the Union, 
and which might have burst forth into a devouring 
conflagration, if a man of iron nerves and iron will 
had not been in the Presidential chair. 

Since these, I can think of no other outbreak, save 
the late Erie insurrection, so tenderly nursed, by 
guardians of the laws, who I am sure never served 
under General Jackson. 

Of the far more dangerous encroachments upon 
our vital national interests, in a different form, I 
shall speak directly ; and but for these my voice* 
would not have been- heard here this evening. 

It is said, by some, that ministers of the gospel 
ought never to meddle with politics. I profess still 
to be a minister o$ the gospel, though I have no 
parochial charge, so, that if, on this occasion, I should! 
seem to anybody, to "stretch myself beyond my 
measure," I shall fall under the same condemnation, 
as if I had a parish, and I am ready to meet the 
charge of intermedling with what does not belong to 
me, in my own behalf, and that of my brethren. 

I freely admit that it does not become us to leave 
our high and sacred calling, and go down into Urn- 
arena of party politics, and soil the ermine of our 



profession, by doing battle, on the one side or the 
other. "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal." 
As ambassadors of the Prince of peace, we should 
rather act the part of mediators, and strive to allay 
the bitterness of crimination, and recrimination, if 
we cannot reconcile the parties. But to say, that 
ministers have no right to meddle with politics ; not 
even to go to the polls, as some contend, is to disfran- 
chise them, as they would not even a criminal, after 
lie had served out his time in the state prison. 

The eternal principles of right and wrong, of 
justice and humanity, and religion, are so interwoven 
with politics, or the science of government, that 
entirely to eschew politics, in the discharge of their 
public duties, would be to ignore all those principles, 
and betray their trust as teachers of morality and 
religion. 

There may be times, there are crises, when it is 
the duty of ministers of the gospel to plunge into the 
thickest of politics ; to "cry aloud and not spare, to 
lift up their voices like a trumpet." So thought and 
so spake our fathers, in the times of the Revolution, 
"which tried men's souls." It was a mighty struggle 
for liberty, for the sacred rights of three millions of 
people, against the encroachments of foreign aggres- 
sion. The ministers of that day, conferred not with 
flesh and blood. They were of one heart and one 
mind. So far as my knowledge extends, there was 
not a tory among them. " Sink or swim, live or die," 
no padlock could have closed their lips. They were 
determined to be free with the people, or to share 
and suffer with them in their subjugation ; and I am 
sure you will bear me out in saying, that no class of 
men, in proportion to their numbers, did more than 



they did, to achieve our Independence. They 
preached, they prayed, politics. They encouraged, 
they exhorted, their people to enlist into the service. 
When whole companies of militia, the bone and 
muscle, and stay of their congregations, were called 
out by those alarms which were so frequent during 
the war, they met them at the hour of their sudden 
departure ; encouraged them to go ; exhorted them 
to fight valiantly for liberty, and implored the God 
of battles to go with them and shield their heads in 
the day of slaughter. Yea, there were not wanting 
examples among them, of buckling on the armor, and 
shouldering the musket, and marching to the places, 
of alarm and danger. I know in whose presence I 
say this. 

Then it was, that while husbands, and brothers, 
and sons were in the army, and the angel of death 
was hovering over the battle fields, hospitals" and 
prison ships, that " the angels of the churches," were 
going from house to house, visiting the bereaved 
widows, mothers and fatherless in their afflictions, 
subsisting as best they could without salaries, and 
even laboring with their own hands to help their 
sorrowing people, Avhose protectors were already 
slain, or hourly exposed to the shafts which flew so 
thick and fast around them. Such were the minis- 
ters of that clay. Such were their prayers and 
preaching, and exhortations, and sacrifices for lib- 
erty. I dare say the British parliament thought, 
these ministers mingled too much in politics ; and 
quite sure I am, that no class of our revolution;! ry 
fathers were more hated and feared than they. 
This was before we were born. 

But there was, some twenty-five years ago, another 



arbitrary encroachment upon the most sacred human 
rights, against which the ministers of that day felt it 
their duty solemnly to protest. I allude to the 
forcible expulsion of the Indians from their home on 
this side of the Mississippi, in violation of a score of 
treaties. This was looked upon, by nearly all the 
people of the north, and justly, I think, as a great 
national robbery. Regarding it in this light, minis- 
ters boldly spoke and preached against it ; and for 
sympathizing with their wronged and defenceless red 
brothers, whom they were successfully laboring to 
civilize and christianize, two of the missionaries w r ere 
incarcerated as felons, at hard labor, in a Georgia 
prison. I then lifted up my feeble voice against the 
violation of the most solemn pledges of the govern- 
ment, in a discourse which I entitled Indian Rights 
and our Duties, and wdiich w T as printed, and pretty 
widely circulated at the time. I could not help 
remonstrating, with all the power I had. I said 
then, and I say now, that I had rather receive the 
blessing of one poor Indian, as he looked back for 
the last time upon the graves of his fathers, than to 
sleep under the marble of all the Caesars. 

And now, we have all suddenly reached another 
crisis, infinitely more alarming, wdiich ought to ex- 
cite every christian, every patriot, every friend of 
humanity and justice, to fervent prayer and the 
most determined opposition. It is no less than a 
meditated violation of national faith, which would 
disgrace any European or Asiatic despot, and which, 
if perpetrated, threatens nothing less, than to rend 
the Union into fragments, and dig the grave of our 
boasted liberties. It is nothing less, than to go back 
thirty-four years of our short, but glorious republi- 



can history, and annul one of the most solemn 
compacts that was ever entered into by the Federal 
government ; and that, for the main, if not the sole 
purpose, of extending the blighting curse of slavery, 
over a vast free territory, larger than England, Scot- 
land, France, Portugal, and Italy, all put together. 
And now, what would the men of '70, who fought 
and periled every thing for liberty, say, if they could 
return to the country which they baptised with their 
blood, and left rejoicing under the broad banner of 
independence ? What would they say if they could 
come back to-morrow, and look over this vast con-' 
federation, and go to Washington and listen to the 
grasping coalition, which now rules the nation ? 
Would they believe their eyes or their ears ? And 
if the ministers of that day, who moved heaven and 
earth by their prayers and preaching, against the 
encroachments of the British crown ; — what would 
they say to us, their sons and successors in the sacred 
office ? Would they caution us to beware what we 
sa}~, either in the pulpit or out of it, lest we should 
be charged with meddling with politics ? What if 
that venerable man of God, Rev. Thomas Allen, who 
sleeps in yonder tomb, could be waked up, and have 
the Nebraska bill, with its black section, put into his 
hands, what would he say ? I declare to you, I 
would not for any price, go and knock at the door of 
that tomb, if I knew that I would bring him up, 
except it were in the last extremity of expiring 
liberty, that he might again buckle on his armor 
and march up to the cannon's mouth. No ; let him 
sleep, and never, till the day of judgment, know any- 
thing of the atrocious conspiracy which has been 
concocted this winter, at the seat of our government. 





This la a crisis, in which we who love our country 
and bear the sacred office, must speak and will 
speak. If we "should hold our peace, the stones 
would immediately cry out." If you could poll, the 
whole ministry of the free States to-day, 3-011 would 
not find one in a hundred, but that would remon- 
strate at the top of their voices against the repeal of 
the Missouri compromise, which declares that from 
all the territory "purchased of France, lying north 
of 36 deg. 30 min., slavery and involuntary servitude, 
otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, shall be, 
and is hereby forever prohibited." 

In speaking to you to-night, I do not claim, with 
Elihu, to be quite "full of the matter," but I am so 
near full, that I cannot hold my peace. Though I 
have now been in the ministry almost fifty years, I 
have never seen the time, but once, (I allude to the 
violent expulsion of the Indians,) when the faith, 
and honor, and justice of the nation- were so much in 
danger of being tarnished, as since the opening of 
this Con cress, • 

And now, if you will bear with the prolixity of an 
old man, I will endeavor to sustain the strong lan- 
guage which I have used, in denouncing the Nebras- 
ka bill in its present form, so far as I have yet been 
able to learn, what shape it has, " in member, joint, 
or limb." 

But in order to do this, I must just glance at the 
history of the first introduction of slavery into this 
country, and its steady march towards the prepon- 
derance which it has gained, and now holds in the 
national counsels. And here I wish to say, that the 
slave states are not answerable for the bringing in 
of this enormous curse and wrong. It was forced 



jo • 

upon them by the mother country, against their 
most earnest remonstrances. Virginia, and I believe 
one or two of the other colonies would have kept it 
out if they couldj but once introduced, it was not in 
their power to abolish the trafic, so long as they 
were under the British crown. From this nefarious 
source of constant supply, slavery had gained such a 
foot-hold, before our fathers severed the cord that 
bound them to the British throne, and hewed out 
their independence with the sw r ord, that the wisest 
and most ardent friends of liberty at the south, saw 
not how the system, which had grown up in spite of 
them, could at once be abolished ; but they hoped 
and believed, that it would not be permanently fas- 
tened upon them. And so far were their most 
illustrious statesmen, who assisted in framing the 
Constitution, from wishing to have slavery gain an- 
other foot of ground on this continent, that they 
deplored the existence of the evil, as a great calam- 
ity and wrong ; and they spoke as earnestly against 
it as any of the delegates from the northern states. 
This, the debates of that day abundantly show. — 
First and foremost among them, were such men as 
Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison ; and in the 
first Congress that met, after the adoption of the 
Constitution, they took a leading part in framing 
and passing the celebrated ordinance of 1787, which 
declared, that slavery should be forever excluded 
from the vast north-west territory, which at that 
time embraced our whole national domain, outside 
of the old thirteen states, and there the matter 
rested, till the purchase of Louisiana, in 1801, which 
being already a slave state, was admitted into the 
Union, with metes and bounds, without any restric- 



11 

tion or any resistance from the north. That pur- 
chase from France, extended beyond those limits, on 
the west side of the Mississippi, up to the British 
line. Here again, the question between slave and 
free territory rested, till 1819, when Missouri peti- 
tioned Congress for admission as a slave state, which 
for the first time, brought the north and south into 
open collision. The framers of the Constitution were 
dead, or too far advanced in age, to participate in 
the public counsels. Slavery had in the meantime 
taken deep root in the states south of the Potomac. 
Other rulers had arisen, "who knew not Joseph," and 
they determined, not only to hold on to the institu- 
tion in their own Egypt, but to carry it along with 
them into Canaan. They contended, that as the 
wdiole territory, under the name of Louisiana, was the 
joint purchase of the free and slave states, they had 
a right to settle with their slaves upon whatever part 
of it they chose, and of course, that Missouri had a 
just claim to come in without any restrictions. On 
the other hand it was contended that the original 
understanding between their revolutionary fathers 
was, that slavery should never encroach upon any 
free territory, under the Federal government ; that 
the territory out of which Missouri was carved, had 
no slaves in it at the time of the purchase, and that 
slavery had, and would have, no right to obtrude 
itself upon that free soil. 

The contest on these grounds was long and earnest. 
Neither party would yield. The debates in Congress 
shook the whole nation and at one time seemed to- 
threaten the dissolution of the Union. At length a 
compromise was made on the 17th of February, 1820, 
and the bill was carried through, chiefly by the pow- 



12 

crful influence of southern men, as Mr. Sumner has 
just unanswerably shown, by names and dates, in his 
brilliant and powerful speech in the Senate, copies 
of which ought to be strown like the leaves of 
autumn, all over the free states. The explicit terms 
of this compromise on the side of freedom were, as I 
have already shown, that slavery was, and should be 
forever excluded from the territory north of 3G deg. 
30 min. This was declared in Congress, by one of 
the most eminent jurists of the south, who had a 
principal agency in bringing it about, to be a compact, 
which, as everybody understood it, was a final 
settlement of the question ; and there it stood, just 
as much unquestioned for thirty-four years, as the 
plainest article in the Constitution itself. In the 
meantime, Arkansas, lying south of the compromise 
line, was admitted as a slave state without opposition, 
so that thus far, if the Nebraska bill passes, slavery 
has gained every thing out of the Louisiana purchase, 
and we nothing. Not satisfied with this, the slave 
power, ever sleepless and encroaching, next fixed its 
greedy eyes upon Texas, which had been violently / 
rent off from the free republic of Mexico, and for 
fear of defeat and in spite of remonstrance, the bill of 
annexation was hurried through the House, almost 
with railroad speed, upon the last great amendment, 
which was, that the new state of Texas, might cut up 
that vast territory, into four more slave states at her 
pleasure ! If I am rightly informed, your own rep- 
resentative, was the only member that could get a 
chance to open his mouth in opposition, at that turn- 
ing point. This was regarded on both sides, as a 
signal triumph of the slave power. Next came the 
Mexican war, not of course, avowedly, to add more 



slave territory ; but who can doubt that this was 
the great object of the men then in power. Thanks 
to a benevolent Providence, they have not yet suc- 
ceeded, but you deceive yourselves, if you suppose, 
they have abandoned the hope. They never despair 
of any thing in the line of slavery aggression, upon 
which they once set their hearts. Depend upon it, 
they will leave no means untried, to get a large slice 
to their own liking, from the conquered territory. 

This brings down the history of aggression by our 
southern masters, to the present winter, and now we 
understand, that when the Nebraska bill comes from 
the Senate to the House, it is intended, by reviving 
the tactics which brought in Texas, to drive it through 
with breathless speed, trampling down in its passage, 
the national faith, and opening another vast free 
territory to the withering sirocco from the burning 
south. To the astonishment of the whole country, 
north and south, the exception of those who were in 
" the mystery of iniquity," they now march boldly 
up to the line of the Missouri Compromise, and hav- 
ing themselves already enjoyed the benefit of it for 
a third of a century, now T just as we are entering 
upon the occupancy of our share of the joint estate, 
they claim the right of coming in at their conven- 
ience, and taking possession of a part or the whole of 
the remainder without our consent. And how are they 
to get over the line of 36 deg. 30 min., with their herds 
of human chattels ? Why, by annulling the compro- 
mise, to be sure. And why have they not done it 
before ? A whole generation has passed away since 
it was made. Why this strange tardiness of a whole 
life time, in asserting their rights ? Was it that they 
could not sooner get rid of some lingering qualms of 



u 

conscience, against violating their sokmnly plighted 
faith ? Was it, that having more than half the farm. 
on this side of the Rocky Mountains already in their 
possession, they did not want our share, till now ? 
Was it because they were afraid they could'nt subsi- 
dise a sufficient number of our northern members of 
Congress, to help them ? Or was it because they 
thought it most prudent to wait, till nearly all the 
men who made the compromise were dead, lest they 
should remonstrate and defeat them, as they most 
certainly would have done, a few years earlier ? — 
Have they been kept back so long for all, or for any 
of these reasons ? 

If I understand them, they have two avowed ob- 
jects in bringing forward the measure of repeal at 
this time. First to assert their right of occupancy 
with their slaves, quite up to the British line, and 
secondly, to put a final end to agitation. 

With regard to the first of these objects, if it is a 
mere abstraction that they are contending for ; if, as 
they say, they never expect to get slavery into Ne- 
braska, and even do not want to, if they could, as 
some of them declare, what motive can they have in 
agitating the whole country, to repeal the comprom- 
ise ? It seems to me the leaders must be either 
unaccountably demented or insincere. 

But the grand objeet which they avow is, to restore 
peace and brotherhood between the two great 
branches of our family, north and south, and to put 
an end to all further controversy. Now, I confess, 
that this is about the most remarkable way of settling 
a great and bitter quarrel, that I remember ever 
to have heard of in my long life. The "omni- 
bus " compromise of 1850, which cost Mr. Clay his 



15 

life, and another groat man his political death, was 
claimed to be a finality, that is, a iinal settlement of 
the slavery agitation, never more to be revived, in 
any form by the north or the south, "as long as the 
sun and the moon shall endure." And though it 
was not satisfactory in all its provisions to either side, 
the country seemed to be settling down upon it, as 
the best compromise perhaps that could be agreed 
upon. Now I wonder how many more finalities, we 
at the north are to have forced upon us, by new ag- 
gressions. I do not understand how Mr. Douglas 
and his copartners expect to keep the body politic, 
sound, by exasperating old sores, which were pretty 
well scabbed over. I thought the safest way was, to 
let them alone. But now, it is all at once found out, 
in this age of new inventions, that the true, patho- 
logical way is, rudely to tear them open ; to apply 
the scalpel to scars, which if not touched, would in 
time disappear, and to set them all bleeding again. 
This is a kind of surgery, for restoring to the body 
politic, soundness, which I believe has never till now, 
been taught in the schools. Not myself being one of 
the Faculty, I can't understand it It looks to me 
just like what, if I do not mistake the term, they 
would in any other case call malpractice. At any 
rate, if my poor old body were to be laid upon the 
table, under a counsel of those northern and south- 
ern doctors, I should hope and pray that it might be 
a finality. 

Now, I undertake to say, that there is not an intel- 
ligent man, in his right mind, in the north or south, 
who will look candidly at the proposed healing mea- 
sure, the Nebraska bill, who believes, or can believe 
that to push it through, can have any such effect — 



16 

On the contrary, it is just as sure to create and in- 
flame new agitations, as that the sun will rise to- 
morrow. 

But if it were otherwise, how can anybody main- 
tain, that the compromise of 1850, broke up, or in 
any way disturbed the compromise of 1820. So far 
as it settled any territorial question, between the 
south and the north, it had nothing in the world to 
do with the Missouri compromise ; and yet we are 
told in the papers, that the whole southern delega- 
tion will go for the bill, on this ground. 

I do not believe it. How can they ? In the 
compromise so called, of 1850, the only question 
was, how shall we bring in and dispose of the new 
territory conquered from Mexico. It had no more 
reference to any other land, owned by the United 
States, than it had to so much surface of the planet 
Jupiter. Not a word, not a syllable was uttered 
during the long and stormy debates of 1850, having 
the remotest retrospective bearing upon the Missouri 
compromise of 1820. It was not alluded to ; it was 
not thought of by anybody, either in or out of Con- 
gress. If any such construction as is now contended 
for, had been hinted at, it would have killed the 
omnibus bill at a blow. Mr. Clay, and every other 
high-minded and honorable member from the south 
would have denounced the insidious retrospective 
application in a moment. 

Now, to say that the whole south in Congress, will 
endorse such a construction, I hold to be a libel upon 
their understanding, which all their friends ought 
indignantly to resent, and to believe it of them, 
requires a margin for their honesty, so wide, that we 
cannot afford it. I will try to show how it strikes 



17 

me, and I believe will strike you, by a familiar illus- 
tration. 

A company of twenty enterprising men, unite and 
purchase a large tract of wild land, in anticipation 
of future settlement. At length, ten of them want 
to take possession, and bring in a population of such 
a character, and introduce such a system of cultiva- 
tion, as in the judgment of the other ten, woidd 
make a bad state of society, and greatly depreciate 
the value of the property. They can't consent to it T 
but their partners insist upon their right, on the score 
of joint ownership. High words follow. One party 
says you shan't bring in such a population, and the 
other s&ys we will. At last, to settle the dispute, 
they agree upon a compromise, and both parties sign 
it. " We will divide the tract on such a line, east 
and west. If you want to burden yourselves with a. 
class of settlers, who will be a curse to you, rather 
than contend about it any longer, you may do it on 
your side of the line, but you shall never bring one 
of them over, to settle on our side, neither you nor 
your heirs forever." 

"Agreed," respond the other party, and the com- 
promise is signed, sealed, and deposited in a safe 
place. The ten partners who had been most strenu- 
ous in making the agreement, go on, with such set- 
tlers as they like, and take possession. The other 
ten are not yet ready, and though they exceedingly 
regret that they are to have such troublesome neigh- 
bors, they do nothing to disturb the compromise. At 
length, they propose to remove and settle upon their 
new land, and to invite such imigrants as they like, 
to plant themselves down around them. In the 
mean time, the same company purchase another large 



IS 

tract, several hundred miles off. Thcsanie disagree- 
ment springs up there, and is settled by compromise 
as before, and there the matter rests for a great 
many years. When, Lo, and behold, without an 
hour's notice, the party that had already settled a 
mongrel population under the first compromise, make 
their appearance in force on the line, and demand 
the right, as original joint proprietors, of coining 
over. "No, we can't allow it," is the answer. We 
don't like such people as we see in your company. 
Have you forgotten the recorded contract, which 
forever excludes such settlers ? 

Oh no ; but have you forgotten our more recent 
compromise, by which we divided that other large 
purchase, and which annulled the first on the strength 
of which you now refuse us." "Annulled it ! how, 
since it was not so much as alluded to, in our last 
purchase and division." "We can't stop to dispute 
with you about that," is the imperious reply. "It was 
repealed, whether you can see how or not. We have 
now as good a right as you have, to occupy any and 
every part of the first purchase, and we are deter- 
mined to maintain it, whether you will or not. We 
have found these people whom you would shut out, 
excellent "hewers of wood and drawers of Avater," 
and we only wish we had more of them." 

This, my friends, is precisely the logic by which, 
after having established slavery in Missouri, under 
the Compromise of 1820, the slave power now r seeks 
to get possession of Nebraska. It is the perfidions 
violation of a solemn National compact, which, by 
party disciples, is to be trampled under foot by both 
houses of Congress. Did the fathers of the Repub- 
lic imagine it possible, that it would ever come to 



19 

this ? Is one compromise with slavery, to make an 
earlier one for freedom void, with which the latter 
had nothing in the world to do, and the chivalry of 
the South to go in mass for it ! The bill before Con- 
gress, for repealing the Missouri Compromise, which 
solicits all their votes, has been altered and amended 
so many times, by its responsible author, at the sug- 
gestion and to suit the friends of the measure, that 
it is difficult to say how it now stands ; and impossi- 
ble to predict, in what shape it will finally pass, if 
pass it must, which may righteous Heaven forbid ! 
Look for a moment, and see, by what gradual and 
sinister approaches things have reached the jDresent 
alarming crisis. A bill for the organization of Ne- 
braska into a territory, was brought into Congress at 
the last session, without any clause to disturb the 
Missouri Compromise. It passed the House and 
was sent up to the Senate. It was then near the 
close of the session, and professedly for want of time 
to consider it, was laid upon the table. Whether it 
was arrested by an after thought, that it did not go 
far enough, I cannot undertake to say. 

But the present bill came out boldly in the first 
draft, and declared that the Missouri Compromise of 
1820, was annulled by that of 1850. This phraseol- 
ogy not quite suiting some of the friends, it was 
amended, by substituting the word superseded for 
annulled. After debate, this was dropped, and the 
bill amended so as to read " The Missouri Compro- 
mise was rendered inoperative by that of 1850." — 
Even this, not fully satisfying all the coalition, Mr. 
Douglas told the Senate, previous to an adjourn- 
ment, that the committee would take back the bill, 
and endeavor so to modify it, as to obviate every 



20 

objection. How it stands now is more than L can 
tell you ; and it is no matter, provided always, that 
it does the work of killing oft* the Missouri Compro- 
mise, and letting in slavery. 

A grand auto-da-fe, seems to be agreed upon in 
the Senate, and though there is some difference of 
opinion, as to wording the sentence of death, the 
principal Inquisitors, will not quarrel with one an- 
other about the mode of execution, whether it shall 
be by strangling, beheading, or drawing in quarters, 
provided the victim is forever put out of the way. 
Some of the executioners may be so tender-hearted 
as to relent, and wish to be excused in the last ex- 
tremity, but they cannot be let off ; the}^ must all 
prove their allegiance to the ruling power, by doing- 
its bidding. 

Let us, next, for a moment, inquire about the pa- 
ternity of this bill, and from what section of the 
country it has found its way into the Senate. Did 
it come from the south, whose interest it is intended 
to favor, by opening a vast new territory for the ex- 
tension of slavery ? No — the south are too " wise 
in their generation " for that. I do not believe that 
there is one Senator south of Mason and Dixon's line, 
who would have ventured to present it, for fear that 
such an acknowledged paternity would defeat the 
bill, as it most undoubtedly would have done.' And 
if a southern administration had now been in power, 
and known to be committed to the measure, do you 
think the south would have ventured upon so bold 
and aggressive a step ? Most assuredly they would 
not, for they must have known it would rouse the 
free states at once, to successful resistance. When- 
ever the slave states have any such object to gain, 



21 

they must very much wish, to have a northern man 
with southern principles in the Presidential chair, 
with that tremendous official patronage, which his 
position gives him. It allays suspicion in the free 
states, and gives the south an advantage, which they 
could not possibly have, were the chair filled by one 
of their own ablest men. This then is the time to 
take another long stride towards gaining that as- 
cendency over us, at which they have been always 
aiming:. A northern President is now at the head of 
the government and the majority of his Cabinet are 
from the free states. 

But something further was necessary to insure 
the safety and passage of the bill. To make it go 
down, it must be brought in by some prominent free 
state Senator. Who should it be ? The man was 
readily found, who, I am sorry to say was born in 
New England, near the battle fields of Bennington 
and Saratoga, and right under the north star that 
never wavers. Thanks to a kind providence, he 
does not Misrepresent any one of our old Puritan 
states. It is surmised by some, I see, that upon the 
ladder of this Nebraska bill, he hopes to climb to the 
highest seat of power in this free country. Perhaps 
he may, but he has already shifted so many rounds 
of the ladder, that in spite of all his cabinate skill, it 
may prove too rickety to bear his weight. I think 
it will, before he gets half to the top ; — quite sure I 
am, that "the angels of God, will not be seen, either 
ascending or descending upon it. 

And again, how is this bill to be carried through 
Congress ? In the usual way, when great public in- 
interests are involved ? No, but by a coup d'etat, 
very much like that which so lately placed a usurper 
-on the throne of France. Almost on the very day 



22 

when the bill, like a clap of thunder in a clear sky, 
astounded every body not in the secret, Mr. Doug- 
las expressed a hope that the question might be 
taken in the Senate, before the end of the week. — 
And what was the object of this hot haste, what 
could it be, but to spring the trap upon the free 
states before the people had time to express their 
opinions, or even to see the bill. I boldly say, this 
was the object. 

And how is it to be carried through Congress, and 
break down the defences of freedom on the line of 
36 deg. 30 min. ? Can the slave representatives do 
it, without the aid of the free north ? No, that were 
impossible. In the Senate, we have two majority, 
and in the House, fifty-four. How then, can they 
expect to succeed ? I will tell you how. In all or- 
dinary subjects of legislation, where party lines are 
drawn, the Whigs in the slave States, act with the 
Whigs in the free States, and so it is with the Demo- 
crats. They act together. But whenever any ques- 
tion arises between liberty and slavery, these party 
lines vanish in a moment, and the Sonth marches up 
to meet us in solid column. Whereas we are divided 
among ourselves. We must stick to our party at all 
hazards, "though the heavens should fall ;" so that, 
when we meet them hand to hand a sufficient num- 
ber of deserters from our ranks go over, to give them 
the victory- So it always has been. It is by our 
help, that they have carried every question against 
as, and gradually extended their encroachments upon 
liberty, ever since the contest between slavery and 
freedom began. They now confidently expect to 
carry the Nebraska bill by the same northern treach- 
ery. But will they, can they V Everybody would 
declare it impossible, if we did not know what re- 



9d 



wards they Lave to offer, and what patent screws 
they have to put on when need so requires, at Wash- 
ington. 

According to the last census, the population of 
the free states was, in round numbers, 13,000,000, 
while the free population of the slave states was only 
6,000,000, a difference on the side of freedom of 
more than two to one* I hazard nothing in saying, 
that if the whole North could be polled to-morrow, 
and there was no fear of the whip and spur, nine- 
teen-twentienths of the votes would be cast against 
the Nebraska conspiracy. And I do not believe, that 
if the whole delagation of the free States now in 
Congress, could be brought home, to meet their con- 
stituents face to face, that aside from party discipline, 
a single man of them could be sustained in voting 
for that bill. If any of them do vote for it, it does 
not belong to me to prophecy, what will be their fate 
at the next election, but some of you remember the 
fate of your own representative from this County, 
who voted to receive Missouri into the Union as a 
slave state. But for that fatal step, such were his 
talents and popular address, that he might have stood 
a fair choice for the highest promotion in the State. 
If that Missouri vote had been a grape shot, aimed 
at his heart it would not have been more fatal to his 
political prospects. I take it for granted, that no 
representative from this our mountain district, will 
ever after venture so to Mis-represent his constituents, 
till he first settled up all his affairs for deliberate 
suicide. 

And it is perfectly eas}^ to teach an}^ Northern 
man, who may be cajoled or brought over at the 



*See the American Almanac, page 209, 1353. 



24 

present crisis, the same lesson, as soon as he gets 
home. To this end let me say, to all political par- 
ties, it is quite time for you to drop the names of 
Whigs and Democrats and Free Soilers, and march 
shoulder to shoulder, just as they do in all the slave 
states, on every question between liberty and slavery. 
In this way alone, can the further encroachments of 
the consolidated slave power he arrested. Keep up 
your political organizations for other purposes, if you 
must, hut I beseech you not to betray the sacred 
cause of human freedom, by any Longer allowing its 
enemies to divide and conquoryou. 

What they will not do next, if they can break 
down the Missouri Compromise by Northern votes, 
is hard to say ; but the plot thickens. The storming 
of the still remaining outer defences of freedom, 
is to be followed up by still nearer approaches to the 
citadel. We learn from Washington, that at the very 
moment when Mr. Douglass was writing to New 
Hampshire, that there was no danger of slavery's 
ever get ling into Nebraska, Mr. Orr of South Car- 
olina was preparing a bill, for the establishment of 
slavery by Congress in that very territory. You 
will not believe it possible ; but so it was. That hill, 
professedly intended to secure the rights of the In- 
dian tribes in the territory, was last week brought 
into the House and ordered to be printed. It pro- 
vides, that each family of these tribes may locate a 
homestead on the following terms: — "Each single 
person, over 2 I years old, is entitled to eighty acres; 
each family of two persons L60 acres; each family 
of three and not over five, 320 acres; each family 
of s^n and not exceeding ten, 640 acres; and each 
family over ten L60 acres for every five members* 

'.•.:■ n. FAMittES WHO OWN SLAVES, IN ADDITION TO YHK 



25 



Fo? k :noi>n, T:isns shall b;; allowed, if less than to 

8LA/ES, ONE-HAL? SECTION, (320 acres') ; [F TEN, NOT ] X- 
CEEDIN i FIFTEEN, ONE SECTION, (640 acres), AND FOB ETIRY 

ten abo.k that number, one-half SEC71 in, (320 acresM" 
This, according to slave logic, is only another neces- 
sary step, for carrying oul the doctrine of noninter- 
vention in the free territories! Ii' it passes, I shall 
almost "despair of the republic." It will prove that 
our representatives are reac 7 y to surrender to the 
slave power all that is left to us, just as fast as it is 
wanted, and then it will he time to inquire whether 
we cannot bring hack and relit the old May Flower, 
and embark with our wives and children on another 
Stormy sea, in quest of some wilderness land, where 
we may again plant the tree of liberty and water it, 
if need be, as oar fathers did, with our blood. 

We were told when the Nebraska Hid was brought 
into the Senile, that it was an administiation mea- 
sure. Rendered into plain English tins means, if 
you don't stand up to the hill and help cany it 
through, yon must, expect to he read out of the 
party, and to he cut oil' from getting any more of 
the loaves and fishes. 

I confess, that this foreshadowing executive inter- 
ference, presents to my mind the most alarming en- 
croachment upon free unbiased legislation that has 
yet been developed. In theory the Federal Gov- 
ernment consists of three independent and coordinate 
branches: the Executive, the Legislative nnd the 
Judicial. Our only safety, as a Republic, depends 
upon keeping them separate. 'J he framers of the 
Constitution, never intended that cue should ccnticl 
or interfere with the others. 

Hut what have we now come to ? The most im- 
portant measure that has been proposed, since the 



25 

adoption of the Constitution, is to be carried by cs 
most alariain-g encroachment upon Legislative inde- 
eLence. If the present conspiracy prevails, by means 
of Executive patronage, how long will it be, before 
the exercise of that now growing power will over- 
shadow and control both the other branches of the 
Government. 

Do you say, that this kind' of interference wiih 
legislation in Congress is no new thing ? It only 
increases my alarm. It shows it to be only carrying 
out a system of encro chments, which has been acted 
upon, till it has reached the present alarming crisis. 
When the Constitution was adopted, many of the 
wisest men in the nation feared, that the Executive- 
branch would be overpowered and conti oiled by the 
Legislative. It could never have occurred to them 
what power they had put into the hands of the 
President, by giving him the appointment and nom- 
ination of officers from the highest to the lowest, to 
represent us abroad and fill all the places of trust 
and profit at home. Could they rise from the dead, 
they would be astonished to find how much they 
were mistaken; how overshadowing that power has 
already become. It is increasing alarmingly cveiy 
year, an 1 if the Union should hold together another 
quarter of a century, we have every reason to le; r, 
it will become so gigantic that nothing can stand 
before it. 

It is curious to notice, in looking over the debates 
in the Senate, how the advocates of the Nebraska 
bill have been driven from one position to another,, 
till, as the last resort they have planted themselves 
upon the constitution. r lhey intend to vote for the 
repeal of the Missouri Compromise because it is un- 
constitutional. In answer to this, it were enough to 



Fay, that some of the ablest Jurists in the country, 
have over and over again pronounced it constitution 
al, when there was no pending question, to bias their 
judgments. If things progress at the present rate, 
how long will it be before half the constitution itself, 
will be declared OS-constitutional? 

This government must have a moral basis to rest up- 
on ; it must adhere to its solemn compacts, or it can- 
not stand. Once let the public conscience be so per- 
verted and seared, that the public faith of this great 
nation, can be trampled down by Congress, or any 
other power, with impunity, and it will be a sure 
presage that the government in its present form is in 
the last stage of decline. Let the Missouri Compro- 
mise be repealed and it will be the last between the 
free and slave states. Whatever crises may hereaf- 
ter arise, requiring concessions rnd cemprtts, no 
such thing can be thought of. We cannot hold to- 
g3ther as a nation without compacts. r i hey lie at the 
foundation of our republic; the sappers and miners 
are at work. The edifice totters, and "if the founda- 
tion be destroyed, what can the righteous do ?' Nay, 
wh it can the sappers and miners themselves do ? If 
they succeed they will be buried with us under the 
ruin*. 

Pass that iniquitious bill now in its progress through 
Congress and it will kindle a flame which all the wa- 
ters of the Mississippi cannot put out. 

Cat "why stru'irle any longer against a measure, 
which the Senate, backed up by the Administration, 
seem determined to push through, at all hazards? 
Way not give the matter rest, and let the Compro- 
mise go, rather than prolong the contest, especially 
as there is so little probability that slavery will ever 
gain a foothold in Nebraska, though the Missouri 



28 

I 

compact should be broken and annulled ?" I answer, 

depead upon it, the .South would not contend so ve- 
hemently, and with such imperious brow-beating, for 
the mere abstract riof.it of taking her negroes over 
the line, if she had no intention of passing it. She 
wants lie tenitoiy to insure her political suprem- 
acy forever. She knows very well, that there is 
nothing in the climate to keep her out, for slavery 
can and does exist and inereisa hi ..I'uo iri, most of 
which lies higher north than the south pait of Ne- 
braska. And there may be another reason for her 
spasmodic efforts, to get possession, which of course 
she dare not avow, and which I have not seen men- 
nod. If this bill passes, it will open to the South 
immense new breeding grounds. Why, it is one of 
the finest climates in the world, for raising black and 
grizzled live stock for the southern shambles, just as 
Virginia now doe-, and finds it much more profitable, 
than cultivating her worn out soil. 

And here, let us look for a moment at the extent 
of the territory, which they would fain wrest from 
us and doom everlastingly to the curse of slavery. 
It covers an area of 480,000 square miles, stretch- 
ing over eleven and a half degiees of latitude, up to 
the British parallel of forty-nine, and west to the 
Rocky Mountains. It is sev-en times larger than 
New England ; and much larger than all the old 
thirteen States put together. It is ten times larger 
than New York, with a population now of more 
than 3,000,000 ; and it might be cut up into sixty 
States as large as Massachusetts, which numbers 
1,000,000. So you see there is room enough in that 
single territory, for a population of 60,000,000 of 
freemen, without making it denser than that of our 
own glorious Commonwealth, at this time. 



20 

And now, shall the solemn compact which has 
stood unquestioned thirty-four years, as a barrier 
against the farther extension of slavery in that quar- 
ter, be broken down to let in the black and desola- 
ting torrent, and that by Northern votes! (for it 
cannot be done without them.) 1 he final vote on the 
Nebraska bill, will decide, as far as human foresight 
can reach, whether new territory, large enough for 
an Empire, shall be consecrated to freedom, justice 
and humanity, to all generations, or whether the pall 
which already shrouds half the land, shall spread its 
black folds over all this wide and fair domain, also, 
up to the springs of Missouri. It is, whether free 
soil shall be protected any where, from the all-grasp- 
ing encroachments of our Southern masters. 

If the bill passes, what is to hinder then from scal- 
ing the Rocky Mountains, and taking possession of 
that vast fertile slope, on the other side, which looks 
away to where the sun goes down in the broad Pacific? 

'•Why not let them do it?" Does any one, who 
dares to call his eoul his ca\ n, ask v. by not ? Just for a 
moment bring the two S3 r sfcms of ficedcm and slave- 
ry togy-'ij!,* f i3 3 to fi3 2. Lit him look first at the 
one and then at the oilier, end if his conscience cces 
not choke him, let him ask us why. If Nebraska re- 
mains the undisputed home of freedom, then it will 
be overspread by a vast industrious population, free 
as the air they breathe ; and with their own strong 
arms turning the wilderness into a fruitful field. 
Then, like New England, it will be dotted all over with 
churches and schools and colleges and retreats for the 
insane, the blind, the mute, and the unfortunate of 
every class. Ihen will the poorest as well as the 
richest, be protected in the enjoyment of all their 
social, civil and religious rights. Under the smiles 



of heaven, great and prosperous States will spring 
up. Water and steam will do the work of more 
millions, in all branches of manufacturing and nic- 
chanical industry, than the Autocrat of all theltus- 
sias can number in his Empire. 1 he Gospel will be 
preached in ten thousand pulpits, throughout that vast 
domain ; heaven will smile upon all its free and glo- 
rious institutions, and as the millennial dawn opens 
and "shines more and more," songs of salutation will 
make the arches of the sky ring with the joy of num- 
bers almost numberless, uninterrupted by the wailings 
of a single slave. 

Cut, on the other hand, slavery, if it gets possession 
of Nebraska, will bring along with it, its bloody code 
of laws ; its handcuffs ; its scourages ; its dogs for 
hunting down runaways ; its licentiousness, against 
which slaves have no protection ; its brutal ignorance ; 
its hard bondage : its unrequited toil ; its refusal of 
the holy sanctions of the marriage covenant ; the 
rending at will of all the ties of natural affection ; 
th 3 slave pjn> where church-'-! an 1 school-houses and 
hospitals ought to stand ; the slave traders, birying up 
all the black cattle they can find, at the lowest prices, 
for transportation to the rice swamps and cotton fields. 

And, ! then will be heard the shrieks of distract- 
ed mothers, as their children are torn Lorn their arms 
and sold into everlasting bondage; the sobbing of 
the poor creatures, men and women, who would have 
been husbands and wives if the law would let them, 
sold like brute beasts, and separated forever! 

13ut I forbear. "My soul is sick." 1 cannot look 
at the picture without horror ; I am sure all your 
sympathies are with me in this matter. But you ask, 
"What can we clo? We are but few, away off here 
among these mountains, and the power is in hands 



31 

entirely beyond our reach." Surely, what can wo 
do ? — but there is never a crisis, in which we cannot 
do something. When the Government was about 
driving away the Choctaws and Cherokees from their 
homes and their father's sepulchers, happening to 
meet that noble-hearted Christian philanthropist, 
Jeremiah Evarts. I asked him what we could do for 
our poor red brethren in their extremity. '-What 
can we do." was his answer, "We can go out into the 
streets and cry murder." 

Blessed be Cod, this is not all we can do, at the 
present critical juncture. There is a power, above 
all human combination? and encroachments, to which 
we can appeal. We can pray, as Daniel did, to the 
God of heaven, to turn back our captivity and save us. 
However lightly the slave power, now in Congress, 
may think of such an appeal, it is one which has been 
"mighty through God to the pulling clown of strong 
holds." 

I here is and always has been a power in effectual, 
fervent prayer, which takes hold of Omnipotence, 
and has a thousand times prevailed against craft and 
violence. Mary Queen of Scotts, was heard to say 
that she was more afraid of John Knox's prayers 
than of 10,000 rebels in military array. And well 
she might be, for he "had power with Cod." and pre- 
vailed. Prayer is a sure resort in times of imminent 
peril. If all the people in the free States who have 
an interest at the throne of Grace, who love justice 
and '-hate lobberv," would cry mightily i.nto Cod in 
their public assemblies, in their families, and in their 
closets, at this crisis, I have no doubt the Nebraska bill 
would be defeated. 

It is well known, I believe, that in the technical 
sense of the term, I am no abolitionist. I wish I could 



32 

say the panic of Mr. Douglass, and these who ret 
with him, but I cannot help regaiding men v Lo v ci.ld 
break down the defences of free territory, as the 
mo^t dangerous abolitionists in the country. I hate 
slavery, with all my heart, and piny Cod that it mry 
never gain another foot of land on this continent. 

While this iniquitous bill is pending, I say remon- 
strate, protest, agitate to the last hour. Had I 
strength adequate to the task, I would go out and 
plead against it, wherever I could gain a hearing ; but 
my old voice is almost worn out. "The wheel is too 
near being broken at the cistern." I call upon you 
that arc younger to ascend to every hill top, and 
blow the trumpet of freedom long and loud. 

this is eminently a great nicial and religious 
question, in its bearings upon all coming generation-. 
It sinks party politics entirely out of sight. If I had 
a hundred voices, and could make them reach all the 
thousands of my clerical brethren in the land, I would 
earnestly ask, "Who knoweth but that you are come 
to the stations which you occupy, lor such a time as 
this'." Can you refaia foil publicly remonstrating 
against the great wiong and danger of violating the 
public faith solemnly pledged in the Missouri Compro- 
mise, and opening an almost boundless new territory 
for the entrance and spread of slavery ? There can- 
not be a question what our fathers of '70, in the 
ministry would do if they were on the stai^e, and 
sIkiII we not prove ourselves worthy to be called 
their sons ? 



46 s> 



